Tabulating type ballot

ABSTRACT

A tabulating card type ballot is disclosed which has a tear-off section joined to a tabulating card section with perforations. Areas indicating items to be voted upon are indicated on the tear-off section and in a voting column located in the center region of the card section. Tabulating columns containing voting areas surrounded by perforations are located on each side of the voting column on the card section. These voting areas are positioned opposite areas indicating items to be voted upon on the tear-off section and in the voting column.

United States Patent 1 Fielder 1 Jan.2,1973

54] TABULATING TYPE BALLOT [75] Inventor: James C. Fielder, San Bruno,Calif.

[73] Assignee: Diamond National Corp., San Francisco, Calif.

22 Filed: Dec.1l,1968

21 Appl.No.:783,068'

[52] U.S. Cl. ..235/6l.12 R, 283/5 [51] Int. Cl. ...B42d 15/00, 606k19/00, G061: 21/00 [58] Field of Search ..283/5; 235/61.12, 61.603

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 621,634 3/1899 Cunningham etal. ..235/6l.12 1,350,914 8/1920 Baker ..283/5 2,342,517 2/1944 Nevin..235/6l.12 2,371,008 3/1945 Whittlesey ..235/61.12

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 243,099 1 1/1925 Great Britain..235/6l.12

Primary Examiner-Maynard R. Wilbur Assistant ExaminerThomas J. SloyanAttorney-Edward D. OBrian [57] ABSTRACT A tabulating card type ballot isdisclosed which has a tear-off section joined to a tabulating cardsection with perforations. Areas indicating items to be voted upon areindicated on the tear-off section and in a voting column located in thecenter region of the card section. Tabulating columns containing votingareas surrounded by perforations are located on each side of the votingcolumn on the card section. These voting areas are positioned oppositeareas indicating items to be voted upon on the tear-off section and inthe voting column.

1 Claim, 1 Drawing Figure TABULATING TYPE BALLOT CROSS-REFERENCE TORELATED APPLICATIONS This application contains subject matter which isrelated to the subject matter of the James C. Fielder et al. applicationSer. No. 408,119 filed Nov. 2, 1964 entitled: ,Tabulating Type BallotConstruction.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Many different types of voting procedureshave been and are being utilized. In elections where a large number ofvoters register their votes for many years it has been common to utilizeso-called paper ballots which are marked and then manually counted. Theexpense of this type of procedure is frequently quite great. Further,with this type of procedure considerable time is frequently required toobtain a tabulation of the votes.

Although machines for automatically counting the votes recorded on suchballots have been developed and utilized, by and large such machines areconsidered to be undesirable for any one of several reasons. Suchreasons concern the costs of such machines, the accuracy of theiroperation, and the reliability of such machines during their use fortheir intended purpose.

As the result of disadvantageous factors with respect to so-called paperballots various types of so-called voting machines have also beendeveloped. Many of such machines can be considered as disadvantageousbecause of their cost and because it has been alleged that whenunscrupulously handled they are capable of being used so as to thwartintentions of those voting.

As a result of these and related factors, tabulating card-type ballotsas are indicated in the aforenoted application Ser. No.408,119 have beendeveloped. These ballots are considered to be effective structures whichcan be used soas to overcome problems encountered with various types ofprior voting procedures and equipment as are briefly indicated in thepreceding.

With ballots as set forth in this prior application items to be votedupon are indicated on both sides of a tabulating card type of structureand the card itself is structured so that the votes for items indicatedon one side of the card cannot be confused with votes for items on theother side of the card. These ballots are intended to be tabulated bymachine so as to effect substantial cost savings and so as to eliminateerrors of manual ballot counting. v j

The acceptability of any ballot for use in elections of widespreadimport is of course governed by many factors such as various electionlaws, human desires and the like. Because of such factors, it isconsidered that, although ballots as set forth in the aforenotedapplication are very desirable and effective, they cannot or will not beaccepted for use in all elections.

One factor involved in this contemplated lack of acceptance lies in thefact that all items to be voted upon are not indicated on a single sideof the ballot. It is felt that because of this there is a chance thatindividuals utilizing the tabulating card type ballots as set forth inthe aforenoted application may, through an inadvertence, not vote on theitems indicated on both of the surfaces of the card.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An objective of this invention is to providenew and improved tabulating card type ballots which eliminate thisobjection to ballots of the type set forth in the aforementionedapplication. Another objective of this invention is to provideinexpensive tabulating card type ballots which may be easily andconveniently used because they contain appropriate voting areas andareas indicating items to be voted upon on a single one of theirsurfaces. A further objective of this invention is to provide tabulatingcard-type ballots which contain more usable area to indicate items to bevoted upon and votes than is possible in a single tabulating card.

In accordance with this invention these objectives are achieved byproviding a tabulating card-type ballot having a tabulating sectionjoined to a tear-off section by perforations. Appropriate ballot-typeareas arranged in rows or columns on the tear-off section and the cardsection are used to indicate items to be voted upon. Columns containingvoting areas separated by perforations are located on the card sectionso that each of these voting areas is located adjacent to and opposite aballot area containing an indication of an item to be voted upon.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The invention is best more fullyexplained by refering directly to the accompanying drawing in which:

the FIGURE shows a top plan view of a tabulating card-type ballot ofthis invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the drawing there is shown atabulating card-type ballot 10 of this invention formed out of a singlesheet of a material such as cardboard so as to have opposed surfaces.Only the upper surface of this complete card 10 is illustrated or shownin the drawing since the appearance of the rear surface is unimportantas far as this invention is concerned. This rear surface may be printedso as to contain voter instructions or the like if this is desired.

The complete ballot 10 includes a tabulating card section 12 and atear-off section 14. These sections 12 and 14 have adjacent ends 16 andside edges 18. It will be noted that adjacent side edges 18 of the cardsection 12 and the tear-off section 14 are joined by perforations 20 sothat the tear-off section 14 may be easily manually removed from thecard section 12. This card section 12 preferably has its ends 16 andedges 18 dimensioned so as to correspond to the dimensions of a cardcapable of being easily machine tabulated. A conventional diagonallyshaped corner 22 is provided on the card section 12 for the purpose offacilitating the orientation of this section 12 during machinetabulation.

The card section 12 is divided into two tabulating columns 24 and 25,each of which extends generally between the ends 16 adjacent to theedges 18 and into a voting column 26 located between these columns 24and 25 and parallel to them. The tear-off section 14 includes a votingcolumn 28 corresponding to the voting column 26 extending betweenitsends 16. It will be noted that the column 28 extends to the edge 18of the section 14 connected by perforations to the card section 12.Preferably heavy printed borders are used on the complete ballot 10 soas to indicate a correspondence of the voting column 28 on the tear-offsection 14 with the tabulating column 24 and a correspondence of thevoting column 26 with the tabulating column 25.

The voting columns 26 and 28 are subdivided by lines 30 into variousballot areas 32 adapted to contain printing indicating items to be votedupon. In the tabulating columns 24 and 25 directly opposite each ofthese areas there is located a voting area 34 of a circularconfiguration surrounded by perforations. These areas 34 are adapted tobe easily and manually removed from the card section 12 by being pushedwith an appropriate stylus-type instrument so as to indicate items votedupon.

During the use of the complete ballot 10, selected of the areas 34 areremoved in the indicated manner so as to indicate votes for variousitems indicated on the complete ballot 10. After this is done, thetear-off section 14 may be easily manually severed from the card section12 so that this card section may be machine processed. After such avoting operation the tearoff section 14 may be thrown away or given tothe voter as a receipt indicating that a ballot has been cast. When thetear-off section 14 is used for this purpose, its rear surface maycontain a ballot serial number or the like.

Iclaim:

l. A tabulating card-type ballot formed out of a single sheet ofmaterial having surfaces, which ballot comprises:

a tabulating card section and a tear-off section,

said card section having ends and sides having the dimensions of a cardcapable of being machine tabulated,

said tear-off section having ends and sides, a side of said tear-offsection being contiguous with a side of said card section and beingattached to said card section by perforations,

a surface of said card section being divided into two tabulating columnsand a voting column, said tabulating columns extending along the sidesof said card section said voting column being located parallel to andbetween said tabulating columns,

said tear-off section and said voting column being subdivided into aplurality of ballot areas indicating items to be voted upon,

said tabulating column adjacent to said tear-off sec-.

tion containing a plurality of voting areas separated from the remainderof said card section by perforations, each of said voting areas beinglocated opposite one of said ballot areas on said tear-off section,

the other of said tabulating columns adjacent to said voting column onsaid card section containing a plurality of other voting areas separatedfrom the remainder of said card section by perforations, each of saidother voting areas being located opposite one of the said ballot areason said voting column,

said voting areas being capable of being severed from said card sectionmanually so as to indicate items yoted u on as shown by said lallotareas, said tearff section being capa le of being manually detached fromsaid card section so as to separate said card section from said tear-offsection so that said card section is capable of being tabulated bymachine.

1. A tabulating card-type ballot formed out of a single sheet ofmaterial having surfaces, which ballot comprises: a tabulating cardsection and a tear-off section, said card section having ends and sideshaving the dimensions of a card capable of being machine tabulated, saidtear-off section having ends and sides, a side of said tear-off sectionbeing contiguous with a side of said card section and being attached tosaid card section by perforations, a surface of said card section beingdivided into two tabulating columns and a voting column, said tabulatingcolumns extending along the sides of said card section said votingcolumn being located parallel to and between said tabulating columns,said tear-off section and said voting column being subdivided into aplurality of ballot areas indicating items to be voted upon, saidtabulating column adjacent to said tear-off section containing aplurality of voting areas separated from the remainder of said cardsection by perforations, each of said voting areas being locatedopposite one of said ballot areas on said tear-off section, the other ofsaid tabulating columns adjacent to said voting column on said cardsection containing a plurality of other voting areas separated from theremainder of said card section by perforations, each of said othervoting areas being located opposite one of the said ballot areas on saidvoting column, said voting areas being capable of being severed fromsaid card section manually so as to indicate items voted upon as shownby said ballot areas, said tear-off section being capable of beingmanually detached from said card section so as to separate said cardsection from said tear-off section so that said card section is capableof being tabulated by machine.